Been playing it for the better part of the night and here are my early impressions:
-Controls are fine. If you're having trouble, then you just need to get used to them, and you actually unlock abilities to make the turning smoother, the homing attack go further, etc. Sonic is intentionally nerfed in the beginning.
-The exp and skills are...different, but I've actually looked forward to acquiring new skills on more than one occasion already.
-The game starts slow, but after beating the tutorials (like 10 of 'em), you go right into the game.
-The stages where you just need to get to the end of the level are a goddamn thrill but seldom very challenging, which is where the other stages come in.
-The missions beyond the first one tend to be harder and can be frustrating, but guess what? The base functionality of Sonic has always been a game where one wrong step means certain death. Sonic Rush embodied this perfectly and people loved it. Why are people bemoaning it in 3D?
-This is, to date, the Wii's most graphically impressive game.
-The mini-games range from meh, to rather fun, with the exception of one I've found so far which is THE BEST MINIGAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED IN ANY GAME FEATURING MINIGAMES, EVER. Mario Party, Wario Ware, Rayman...NONE of them touch this one immensely simple yet brilliant game.
It works like this: all four players are standing around a pile of square rugs with a genie standing on top of the pile. The genie will jump and sometimes look like he's about to jump. When he jumps, make quick downward motions with the Wiimote to pull as many rugs out from the pile as possible.
Here's the kicker...if a player pulls the rug while the genie is standing on it, the genie will fall on him/her then bounce off screen, leaving the player temporarily stunned while the remaining 3 players are free to pull rugs like mad until the genie returns to the pile seconds later. This usually results in one unfortunate player being greedy and trying to pull one last rug before the genie lands on the pile, thus pulling the genie on him/herself and the cycle begins anew.
This is the fastest, most frantic and incredibly fun minigame I have ever played. It literally brings everyone playing to their feet as they attempt to pull the most rugs and just barely outdo each other.
As for my feelings on the main game...it's a bit rough, and I agree that we should have just been allowed to play more stages without reusing them so many times, but THIS, my friends, is what Sonic should have been like in 3D from the very beginning. Literally, this is IT. When you're controlling Sonic as he dashes down hallways, corridors and over beautiful ruins floating through the sky, you feel it. The speed is in YOUR hands.
It's not like SA where you held forward and Sonic eventually passed through everything and got to the end of the level, no. It's like you're REALLY in control this time, and if you f*ck up, it's your own damn fault, not the camera's and not a missed rail grab which should have happened: YOUR fault.
Secret Rings was a test game. NO question about that, just like RE4 was a test game (since it didn't involve Umbrella as the central plot like all previous games...). Sega was testing the waters with this, and the fact that it's based in a pure fantasy setting tells me this more than anything.
Remember how Sonic Adventure felt like a test game, like the creators were trying to get a feel for how they wanted to make Sonic games in true 3D, like the game was a test to see what they could do? SR feels like that in many ways, but it's more like they've narrowed it to Sonic and they're trying to figure out how to hone his speed-based gameplay to be the best that it can be, and although it ain't perfect, it's an effort which should NOT be overlooked.
Topic: I hope "Secret Rings" doesn't suck... (Read 69649 times)
